Rosanna – One-Act Opera

The story of Rosanna takes place in a barren village on the northern coast of Chile in the 1930s. It involves the lives of two friends, Rosanna and Angelina. As children, both lived in poverty, Rosanna protecting and watching after her frailer friend. A young man in the village wooed Rosanna and then left forever when he knew she was pregnant. The child died and his mother endured condemnation and ostracizing from the entire town. Angelina was lucky that the Baron, who was very rich, married her and took her out of squalor into wealthy splendor. Always sickly, Angelina bore a son and brought Rosanna to her house to care for him. Resenting her husband's love for their son and his inattention to her, Angelina eventually abandoned the boy to Rosanna's ministrations, until his sudden death from an infection.

This introduction is related by the priest of the village in the prologue. The action then continues with the burial of Angelina's son. The people of the village gossip that Angelina is a heartless woman who has taken advantage of her warm and sympathetic friend, Rosanna. Realizing at last that the villagers no longer despise her but instead blame her friend, Rosanna sees that she has been taken advantage of by everyone she has loved and all that she has received in return is pity. Rebelling, she leaves the village to seek a better life.